#chaekgeori

[artghutry]

Chaekgeori, the Scholar’s Accoutrements. Late nineteenth-century Korea. Ink and color on paper, Ten-panel screen, 78″ (H) x 152″ (W). Private Collection.

Curated by a group of Korean art experts that includes Byungmo Chung (professor, Gyeongju University), Sunglim Kim (professor, Dartmouth College), Jinyoung Jin(Director of Cultural Programs, Charles B. Wang Center), Sooa Im McCormick (Assistant Curator of Asian Art, Cleveland Museum of Art), and Kris Imants Ercums (Curator of Global Contemporary and Asian Art, Spencer Museum of Art), this collection showcases marvelous and rare examples of chaekgeori screens alongside the works of a diverse body of contemporary artists who continue this genre into the twenty-first century. Seven contemporary artists featured in the exhibition are Stephanie S. Lee, Seongmin Ahn, Kyoungtack Hong, Patrick Hughes, Sungpa, Young-Shik Kim, and Airan Kang.

[tofuart]

Kitchen Chaekgeori

This is the newest painting in my Chaekgeori-inspired series.   The books are some of the cookbooks on shelves in my small, San Francisco kitchen.  On the lowest shelf are essential coffee beans and tea bags stored in old spaghetti sauce jars (reuse and recycle), plus filters, mugs, etc.  

From the beginning, I recognized each Chaekgeori I was painting is in essence a portrait — or in this example a self-portrait.  These shelves also include art I have collected and art I have made.  There is even a shadow box I made for my grandmother as a child.  It sat on her kitchen shelf for decades.   There are souvenirs from trips going back over 40 years — to Sweden and more recently Mexico.  Some of the mugs are souvenirs as well.  On the top shelf there are some vintage ice crushers and other kitchen tools — something else I have been collecting for a long time.

The stuff on those shelves reveals quite a lot about me.

[twoclaws]

책거리 (Chaekgeori), or Traditional Korean Bookshelf paintings by Lee Eungrok and an unknown artist, all dated to late 1800’s Joseon.

Further Reading:

“Chaekgeori: the Power and Pleasure of Possessions in Korean Painted Screens”

“Korean Munbangdo Paintings”

“People of Joseon paint their desire for learning”

“Art Historian Bring Little-Known Korean Art to America”

[tnnkmm]

Chaekgeori, books and other things in korean painted screen

[schasem]

[bluecrowcafe]

Chaekgeori aek-gyun, ‘Books and Scholars’ Accouterments’ (late 1800s), 10-panel folding screen

[tofuart]

The Professor’s House

It would be ideal if a copy of The Professor’s House was in this bookcase from my Chaekgeori-inspired series.   But this Australian professor teaches computer science rather than American Literature.   And while he has a model rocket on his shelf, he is not a rocket scientist (though his dad is).  Like all my friends, I find commonalities when I paint their bookshelves.  For example, so many of them have Rubik’s cubes on display.  I best not make a snarky comment about nerds and Rubik’s cubes though, because you might find one on my own bookshelf.  

[tofuart]

The Thorn Birds

It has been more than a year and I still am working on my Chaekgeori-inspired series.  

I usually do not paint the book titles in detail, yet many of the books in these paintings are still recognizable.  Viewers spot a few books they have on their own shelves and many of us read the same books.  In my latest painting you might notice a copy of The Thorn Birds — a ubiquitous title on the bookshelves of all moms of a certain generation.  Yes, these are my mom’s books and things.  And even though she has downsized (many of my parent’s books are on my shelves now), a true reader can’t help but fill a bookcase.  Also, like many of the paintings in this series, small pieces of my art appear on the shelves (look for the slice of cabbage).